View full sizePeggy Turbett, The Plain DealerThe Learned Owl's Liz Murphy said she can't walk around Hudson without being stopped by someone asking who she's selling her book store to. "I've been overwhelmed by people who are very concerned that I make the right decision. So I have to make sure this is the right person."

HUDSON, Ohio -- Liz Murphy, owner of The Learned Owl Book Shop, is looking for someone very special to take her old-fashioned business into the age of e-books and social media.

Nearly three decades after she bought the 43-year-old business, The Learned Owl has developed a reputation as a destination store for Harry Potter fans, dog lovers and bibliophiles.

But Murphy, 64, acknowledges that the business has changed dramatically.

Readers are buying fewer hardcover fiction titles and snapping up more e-books.

I've had informal calls with over 20 people. It's an involved process. First I send them the basic facts about the business, because I've had a couple of people who thought they would buy it and sit there and read and just hand books to people.

I have 20 employees. We're open seven days a week, six evenings, and 24/7 on the web. If that doesn't scare them off, I have them sign a confidentiality agreement and I send them some figures.

I have four or five interested people and they're all poring over the figures with their financial advisers. Really, any of this group would be very good, so that would be my dream, that one of them would be the new owner. It's really obvious that they all do love books.

Whoever it is, they all want me to be very involved; they don't want me to say, 'Here's the keys. Goodbye.'

One of the people I've been talking to said, 'You know, this is more like an adoption than a business purchase,' and I like that. That's how I feel.

What advice would you give someone looking to get into the bookstore business?

You have to be passionate about it. That's the most important thing.

If this is your life dream, then you're already ahead of the game. At age 35, when I bought this place, I'd never even thought about owning a bookstore.

Don't think that being the owner means you can sit there and tell everybody else what to do. Because being the owner really means you have to know how to do everything.

You have to dust, you have to vacuum - My staff will laugh at that because I don't do that very often. You have to learn every aspect of the business.

Are there some non-negotiables? Can they change the name of the store?

They can't change the name or the location. The original owner and founder, Jean Isabel, just died a few weeks ago, and that was what she told me.

Having the new owner buy the building, that's my ultimate goal, because I do think that gives them so much more flexibility (without having to worry about rising rent).

And Ruby [she pauses to pet her dog] comes with me. She might have to have visiting privileges, because I don't know what Ruby's going to do without all the attention she gets here.

What are the prospects for independent bookstores like The Learned Owl?

Personally, I think it's a fabulous time for independent bookstores. Being little, we have more flexibility.

No matter what happens with e-books, there's always going to be people who want to read books. I have books on my iPad, but if I'm sitting on the beach, then I have to have a book. If I'm sitting in bed, I have to have a book.

Many parents want to read books to their kids, and they don't want to be reading books on an e-reader. I think e-readers have a lot of appeal for kids, but for them, it's always going to be more of a toy than a book.

Hudson is a fabulous place to have a bookstore, because there's so many loyal customers here. I've been overwhelmed by people who are very concerned that I make the right decision. So I have to make sure that this is the right person.

I went to Washington, D.C., and I talked to our Ohio representatives (about requiring online retailers to charge sales tax). Booksellers from all over the country had gathered there to tell them they really had to level the playing field.

The laws are there on the books; they just have to enforce them. Amazon doesn't collect sales tax, but if you buy $10,000 worth of stuff from Amazon over the year, there's a little line on your tax form where you have to report that and pay the sales tax, but nobody does it.

I read somewhere that 'You can find anything you want on Amazon, but a book store is where you find something you didn't know you wanted.'

What's the one thing about this business that nobody knows?

That we give 68 percent of our profits back to the community of Hudson. Any independent bookstore - any kind of locally owned store - gives 68 percent of its profits back to the community.

With their taxes, their employees, their utilities, their printing, and their donations to the community.

Amazon gives back zero.

We share the same supplier as Amazon, so if Amazon can get it, so can we. We order from our distributor three to five times a week and can usually get things the day after we order them.

If people only shop on Amazon, pretty soon, that's going to be the only place they can shop. Hudsonites have learned this the hard way.

We lost Saywell's Drug Store and Miracle on Main Street. Miracle on Main Street was a wonderful little office supply store. I bought everything from there, but it wasn't enough, and it closed.

It's the small independent stores that give towns like Hudson their charm. We need to remember that the stores that make up the charm of Main Street need to be supported.

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